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Dear Ms. Ward -- I have used a great variety of libraries, large
and small, over the lasy 40+ years and have worked as a librarian,
doing both technical services and reference, for the last 11 of
those years. The library where I work has been using a cataloging
utility (RLIN) since the early 1980s, but continues to use its own
proprietary, local classification system (neither Dewey nor LC).
In my experience as a user in other libraries, I've found Dewey more
"user-friendly" than LC, esp. in small and medium-sized collections.
Unlike Dewey, which strives for some consistency accross the various
fields of human knowledge, the LC scheme is a patchwork with much
less internal "logic" -- it works better for some subjects than others.
LC's "N" classification is neither among its worst (LC's "D" class, for
example, is a mess for anything other than North American subjects) nor
would I rate it the best of the lot. If you would like some examples
of things in "N" that I've found to be less than optimal, please let
me know and I'd be glad to pass them along. In any event, I can see
no compelling reason to convert if you're dealing with a collection
that is already classified according to Dewey.
Just my two-cents' worth ...
Andras J. Riedlmayer
Fine Arts Library
Harvard University
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